Brida
Brida was an East Anglian-born, Danish-raised Viking warrior who was the lover of Uhtred of Bebbanburg and then of Ragnar Ragnarsson and his cousin Cnut Longsword. Biography Brida was born in East Anglia to an Anglo-Saxon family, and she was taken captive during the Great Heathen Army's invasion of England in 866. She was brought into the service of the Viking skald Ravn in Leeds, where she grew up with Earl Ragnar the Fearless' daughter Thyra Ragnarsdottir and fellow Anglo-Saxon servant Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Uhtred and Brida became lovers during their young adulthood, and, in 871, they (and, unbeknownst to them, a captive Thyra) were the only survivors of Kjartan's attack on Leeds. Brida accompanied Uhtred on his quest for vengeance, and, while she advised him to flee to Ireland or to give up his quest to regain Bebbanburg, she still accompanied him during their flight across the land. They took Ubbe Ragnarrsson's sorcerer Storri hostage with the goal of approaching Ubbe and assuring them of their innocence in Ragnar's death, for which they had been blamed by Kjartan; when this failed, they fled south to Wessex. Brida was a proud Dane who had forgotten about her Anglo-Saxon past, and she was hostile towards Christianity and the Anglo-Saxons, especially after Uhtred became a pledged servant of King Alfred the Great. Brida and Uhtred had a complicated relationship, swaying between love and disagreement, and Brida miscarried Uhtred's child while Uhtred was training West Saxon troops in the woods of Wilton. Viking raider , 878]]When Ragnar Ragnarsson arrived from Ireland, Brida agreed to sail with him, but Uhtred had to part ways with his lover, as he had promised to serve Alfred for a year, and Ragnar encouraged him to keep his promise. During the five years that Brida and Uhtred were apart, Brida found a new man in Ragnar, becoming his lover. In 876, she was reunited with her former lover at the Siege of Wareham, where Uhtred was sent as an Anglo-Saxon hostage to Ragnar and Guthrum's Danes at the Danish-held town of Wareham. Brida and Ragnar were upset that Uhtred had chosen to be a Saxon over being a Dane, but they assisted him in his escape from the castle. Two years later, she again crossed paths with Uhtred during the Viking attack on Winchester, where she allowed him and his friends to slip past the drunk guards, but showed no warmth towards Uhtred. ]] After the Battle of Edington in 878, Ragnar and Brida were given to the Anglo-Saxons as hostages, and, while Ragnar clasped hands with Uhtred in prison to show their continued friendship, Brida turned away from Uhtred in anger. King Alfred later released both Ragnar and Brida to help Uhtred in his quest to slay Earl Kjartan, allowing for them to avenge Ragnar the Fearless. She and Ragnar freed Uhtred from the slaver Sverri in 880 and then, with the help of King Guthred of Northymbre's army, stormed Dunholm, where Ragnar killed Kjartan in single combat. Brida and Ragnar turned Dunholm into their new home, with Brida being Ragnar's lover. However, over the years, she was unable to produce children, forcing Ragnar to have children with other concubines. Ragnar's death ]]In 892, Uhtred was reunited with Brida when he decided to join Ragnar for an invasion of Wessex, as Uhtred had been banished and outlawed by King Alfred the Great, now frail and without his best general. However, Brida and Ragnar disowned Uhtred when he abandoned the Danes to rescue Princess Aethelflaed from her husband Aethelred of Mercia. Meanwhile, she had to put up with Ragnar's cousin Cnut Longsword, who incessantly reminded her of how much he wanted to bed her. Secretly, Cnut sanctioned Aethelwold Aetheling's murder of Ragnar in his tent on the last night that he was supposed to spend having a child with his concubine, and Brida found them dead in the tent the next morning. Brida deduced that either Sigurd Bloodhair or Cnut had killed Ragnar, but Cnut swore that it was not him, and Cnut took Brida as his lover, as Brida needed to survive and join her men with Cnut's in order to prepare for a split with Bloodhair and Hastein. Brida again reunited with Uhtred when she informed him of Ragnar's death, and when they set out to find a way to send Ragnar - who hadn't died a warrior's death - from Niflheim to Valhalla. They found their old acquaintance Storri, who told them that Ragnar would go to Valhalla if a person used a sword soaked in Ragnar's blood to kill Ragnar's murderer. Brida then strangled Storri to death, blaming his curse on her inability to have children, and on Ragnar's death. She later helped Uhtred one last time just before the Battle of the Holme, when she sent her lieutenant Jackdaw to tell Uhtred that Aethelwold was the murdered, allowing for Uhtred to stab Aethelwold through a pouch of Thyra's blood, after which Brida noticed a ray of light and said that Ragnar was crossing the bridge into Valhalla. However, Brida had previously reminded Uhtred that she had forgotten about any love that she had for Uhtred, and they briefly hugged before returning to the opposing sides. Category:East Anglians Category:Jorvik Category:Anglo-Saxons Category:Danish Category:Converts to paganism from Catholicism Category:Pagans Category:Catholics Category:Vikings Category:English